Fire-bucket



R. W. EATON.

(No Model.)

FIRE BUCKET.

No. 537,444. Patented Apr. 16, 189 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE.

RUSSELL W. EATON, OF BRUNSWICK, MAINE.

FIRE-BUCKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 537,444, dated April 16, 1895.

Application filed August 10, 1894- Serial No. 519,929. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, RUSSELL W. EATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brunswick,in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Buckets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to fire buckets such as are kept permanently standing in mills, factories, &c., filled with water. In this class of fire buckets there has always been more or less trouble caused by the evaporation of the Water contained in the buckets and the great problem with the mill owners and insurance inspectors is how to keep these buckets full of water and how to know whether they are full or not without taking them down from the high shelves on which they usually rest and inspecting them.

The object of my invention is to provide a fire bucket in, which there shall be an indicating device which will show at a glance whether the bucket is full or not.

In carrying out the object of my invention I introduce into the bucket a float which I so connect with an indicator that it will show whether or not the bucket is full.

In the form of my invention which I prefer to use, I pivot a lever on the under side of the cover and attach to one end a float and to the other end an indicator or target which rests normally on the top of the cover and practically out of sight but when the float drops by the lowering of the water the indicator rises to a position where it can be seen.

I illustrate my invention by means of the accompanying drawings, which show a fire bucket provided with an indicating device made according to one form of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section showing the lever and the parts connected with it in elevation; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

A represents the fire bucket proper which may be of any well known form and B is the cover. As herein shown I apply my indicating device to the under side of the cover although it may equally well rest on a special support. To a lug e on the under side of the cover is pivoted a lever E having on one end a float D adapted to float on the surface of the water when the bucket is full or practically so. The opposite end of the lever is turned upward and passes through an opening 1; formed in the cover. An indicator or target F is secured to the outer end of the lever E above the cover in such a position that it will rest face down on the top of the cover near the edge thereof when the float is up and the bucket is full. WVhen the target is in this position it is practically out of sight but when the float drops by the lowering of the water the target rises where itcan be plainly seen. The under side of the indicator is preferably painted some bright color which will be plainly seen from a distance.

0 represents the bail of the bucket.

It will be seen that as I have now pivoted the lever the target goes up and indicates when the water is lowered and when the bucket is full the device does not indicate.

The efficiency of my'device will be readily understood from its construction. So long as the target is down and out of sight the inspector can tell at a glance that the bucket is full but when the target is up it shows that the bucket needs attention. The whole attachment being secured to the under side of the cover may be readily removed with the cover and it is so simple and has so few parts that it cannot easily get out of order.

Although I have shown one way of connecting the float with an indicator outside the fire bucket it is evident that this connection may be made in other ways and I do not wish to limit myself to the particular form here shown. The characteristic of my device is that the target is down and out of sight so long as the bucket is full, but is up and in full view whenever the water supply in the bucket is deficient. I am aware that it has been proposed to provide fire bucket tops with targets attached to floats and arranged to rise and be in view when the buckets are full. Assumin g as is often the case that there may be several hundred fire buckets in one room alone of a cotton or other mill, then with fire buckets like those last named the indicators or targets will all stand up when the buckets are full as most of them always are,and under these circumstances, and among this great number of normally uprighttargets, it would be most difficult to detect the absence of one or more; but under my arrangement the targets (all of them) are normally down, and the abnormal lift or elevation of any one of them will surely attract instantattention. This is of material importance not only because it is absolutely necessary for the safety of mills that all fire buckets should be kept full but the lack of water in even a few of them jeopardizes the insurance policy, and puts the owner under the strictest surveillance of the insurance and fire inspectors.

float is up the indicator will be down and when, on the other hand, the float is down the indicator will rise into view above the cover substantially as described.

2. The herein described fire bucket having a cover, alever pivoted on the underside thereof, a float on one end of said lever, the opposite end of said lever extending up through an opening in said cover and having secured thereto a target or indicator adapted to rest on top of the cover when the float is up and to rise above said cover when the float is down, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RUSSELL W. EATON.

Witnesses:

D. D. GILMAN, PHILIP Roo'r, Jr. 

